For a formal dialogue, Twitter Inc. has called out to the Union IT Minister, the US social media giant stated, adding that “safety of our employees is a top priority”. The second response in less than 24 hours comes after the government asked it to suspend over a thousand more profiles in relation to the protest of farmers for possibly misleading people and provocative content.
“Safety of our employees is a top priority for us at Twitter. We continue to be engaged with the Government of India from a position of respect and have reached out to the Honourable Minister, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology for a formal dialogue,” a Twitter spokesperson said.
The social media site also said it has acknowledged obtaining the government’s notice of non-compliance. Government statements and sources said that the government had requested the social media giant to take down 1,178 identified accounts that have Pakistani and Khalistani users. They also said that the social media site was still not fully compliant with the order.
In relation to such findings, the organization takes the necessary steps while ensuring that its “fundamental values and commitment to protecting the public conversation” are held firm.
“We strongly believe that the open and free exchange of information has a positive global impact and that the Tweets must continue to flow,” a company spokesperson said in the latest statement.
Earlier Actions By Twitter:
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had previously submitted a list of 257 Twitter accounts and tweets to be restricted or blocked for pretty much the same reasons on January 31. These accounts were blocked for several hours by Twitter before arbitrarily unblocking them soon afterward.
On February 4, in the midst of the farmers’ protest, the Ministry circulated a fresh list marked by security agencies as accounts of sympathizers of Khalistan or supported by Pakistan. These are operating from foreign territories and are threatening public order.
A source said, “Many of these accounts were also automated bots that were used for sharing and amplifying misinformation and provocative contents on farmers’ protests”.
Jack Dorsey, the global Twitter CEO, had “liked” many tweets posted by international stars a few days earlier in support of farmers’ protests, sources said. In view of this, there are some concerns about Twitter’s disobedience to the government’s directive to block the profiles.
After the United States and Japan, India is Twitter’s third-largest market. Millions of users in the nation have the site, including leading celebrities, sports stars, government leaders, and political leaders.
